The Irish standard., 1887-02-12

! llluusA COtlSlLtCldIlC lCOuCGlOllS, OCCe!StoO
they know that in the existing state Of
things it is impossible for their tenants
! to pay in full. And yet the English
; farmer is in a better position than his
; Irish confrere, for English Landlords
make large sacrifices to improve their
farms by irrigation. drainage, etc;
while in the sister isle Che farmers al
mcst invariably have to bear such eN~
penses. II the Irish farmer is less
fairly treated than the English farmer,
the simple Irish lahorer is equally i'll all
inferior position to that Of the
English laborer The latter is gen
orally better paid than the 9TH
Ell, and when agricultural work
is scarce he Can turn his hand to one
of The many industries OF his country.
The Lrishman has nothing of that; il
the land which he occupie: does not
produce enough for his subsistence.
there is nothing tor him but starvation.
At the present time large number OF
the smaller farmers are in that unhappy
condition. When a Scotch question
comes up in Parliament English men,
bers content themselves by voting ac-
cordlng to the views Of the Scotch ma
jority. On the other hand, when any
Irish question crops up, everybody has
his say, and the principal anxiety seems
to be who shall speak the strongest. In
Ireland itself the entire civil and judi
cial administration is il the hands Of
the landlords and the English, from the
lord lieutenant down to The Junior resi-
dent magistrate. Itwould almost seem
as if the English government had tried
to divide the two classes OF which the
country is composed, and to excite them
against eac}, other. If au Irisilman
should get into trouble for drinking too
much, before whom will he be taken?
Before his landlord. OK the latte,'s
agent. II he is charged with 8 more
serious offence he is tried before Il jury
OF protestants. The judges themselves
belong to he landlord! class. and so it
is fronl the top to the bottom of The
judicial ladder. The same system is
practised with regard to public works,
to education, and to county admins
tratlon. The municipal councils only
are elected by the people, and what is
the consequence? Every where they
are Nationalist. hey are. however,
deprived OF all real power. and the lord
mayor Of Dublin even is uot allowed to
give a single order TO the police of the
town. whose reputed administrator lie
is. La demanding home rule the Irish
really only demand the right to manage
their own affairs. The great objection
Of tlie-I3ngist1 to home rule is that if
Ireland obtains autonomy she viii use
it to bring ai,cut complete separation
between the Jwo countries. To that
the Irish triulnphantly reply that cw~
ing to her geographical situation Ire
land cannot separate herself from EIg-
land, that it is essential TO the prosper
ity Of ireland that she Shall main
tain the most cordial relations with
England, that the only available outlet
for Irish productions is, and always will
be England, and that finally the Irish
have not that aversion TO the English
SO generally attributed to them, what
they detest being the absurd and cruel
government Of their country by an ad~
mnistration uhicn has neither SYM
pathy nor community Of idea or inter
est with the Irish people. "How should
we gain by separation?" ask the Irish.
"We should be obliged to form an army.
to create navy, we, Who have not sufti~
cienl to keep ourselves as it is, and
who in population are only the size Of
London. Is it likely that we should be
such fools? We know our own inter-
ests, and it is our greatest to be On
good terms with England. When the
day comes that We have our National
government like Canada and the Aus
tralian colonies, England will have no
! more faithful friends than u.s. England
has meyer had any better sevants than
the Irish, either in the civil admins
tration or the army; no Irish officer in
the servece of England has ever failed
in his duty; no Irish soldier fighting in
the ranks of the English army has ever
turned his back to the enemy. The
English know, and recognize this. What
other guarantees do they wish us to
giye?' So speak the Irish, whose
| loyalty is as proyerbial as their honesty,
but apart from these sentiments it is
clear that they have nothing to gain by
separation. Undoubtedly at the pres
ent time Ireland, discontenteJ and irri-
! tated by the injustice and the bad treat
melt to which she has been subjected,
would be a danger to England in the
event Of a war with any power. But
Ireland autonomous and free would be
to England @ loyal and faithful friend.
AS it has been in the past, so it will be
in the future. AS Lord Aberdeen OBJ.
served the other day at Glasgow, the
first act Of the Irish Parliament was 10
| vote men and money to F,up1and at a